CIT in Action

June 2010

Feature Story: New Report Shows People Living with Severe Mental Illness More Likely to Be Imprisoned than Hospitalized

In May, the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) and the National Sheriff’s Association released a report revealing that people living with severe mental illness are more likely to be in jail or prison than a hospital. (More…)

Advocacy Spotlight: A Focus Group Report: A Conversation with CIT-trained School Resource Officers

NAMI’s CIT Center, in partnership withNAMI’s Child and Adolescent Action Center, is working on an initiative to promote crisis intervention teams designed specifically to address the needs of children and youth with mental health needs who are at risk of entering the criminal justice system. We have received a grant from the Lincy Foundation to assist communities in three states,Louisiana,IllinoisandUtah, in starting up CIT for youth programs. As part of that project, we conducted a focus group inLake Charles,La., with 30 CIT-trained school resources officers (SROs), SRO supervisors and related personnel. Based on their feedback, we provide recommendations for CIT for youth training and the community partnerships that make the program successful.Downloadthe report on the NAMI website.

News and Announcements

NAMI National Convention June 30-July 3

The 2010 NAMI National Convention is inWashington,D.C., this year from June 30-July 3. The conference ends just in time to celebrate the Fourth of July in our nation’s capital!

The Council of State Governments (CSG)JusticeCenterrecently released a new publication,Reentry Housing Options: The Policymakers’ Guide, which provides practical steps that lawmakers and others can take to increase public safety through better access to affordable housing for individuals released to the community. To learn more, visit theReentry Resource Center website.

Launch Party! Win an Autographed CD

Are you age 18-25? If so, please sign up now as a member ofStrengthofUs.org, NAMI’s new online community for young adults. The 1,000th person to joinStrengthofUs.orgwill receive an autographed copy of William Fitzsimmons’ CD,The Sparrow and the Crow, for which he was named an iTunes best singer-songwriter.
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